The rugged robot is designed to pick up small nails, dirt, sawdust and other debris that accumulates in garages, basements and workbench zones. Priced at $129.99, the workshop robot will be available at www.irobot.com starting Sept. 15.

"We developed iRobot Dirt Dogto attack the dirtiest places in and around your home - garages, porches, decks, basements and under your workbench," said Greg White, president of iRobot Home Robots."iRobot Dirt Dog is the first robot made for jobsthat are too dirty for a regular vacuum.

"The same size and shape as the iRobot RoombaŽ Vacuuming Robot, iRobot Dirt Dog features an oversized, bagless debris bin that is approximately 40 percent larger than Roomba's bin. The robot also features two counter-rotating bristle brushes that spin at nearly 1,000 rotations per minute to pick up heavy debris such as nails, wood chips and small shop scraps. With brushes specially designed to sweep up dirt that clings to rough surfaces, the robot is recommended for use on hard floors, shop carpets and industrial surfaces only.
Similar to the company's line of award-winning home robots, iRobot Dirt Dog is easy to use - simply push the Clean button and it goes to work.

The workshop robot is compatible with most Roomba accessories including the remote control, battery, Virtual WallŽ and self-charging Home BaseT.